Soft
by HiyaItsHails
Summary: Jessie misses her mother and is unsatisfied with her contributions to Team Rocket. James finds out and tries to help. Rocketshippy, or platonic, however you want to look at it.


**Hiya! Soooooo first ever Pokémon fic... But most importantly first ever rocketshipping story! Well, say it's rocketshippy, but there's no kissing or anything like that so even someone who doesn't love the ship can still enjoy!! That's all I'll say for now, but be sure to review as I am open to all criticism! ALSO, let me know if you want more like this, as I already started some that I might wanna share. Hope you enjoy!**

Jessie is a lot of things, but she was never soft. Well, at least, that's what she's been convincing herself for the past 11 years. She was soft _sometimes_, everyone is, but she vowed to never show her 'soft side' to anyone... even on days like this, which is much easier said than done.

11 years, it's been 11 years to date since her mother was pronounced dead. This marked the starting point of a very harsh and unforgiving life. Although her mother wasn't around very often when she was living, Jessie had very fond memories of her, she was always on her team, and loved her unconditionally, she believed in her, always telling her that she could do anything she put her mind to. Clearly this wasn't the case though, as her and her partners James and meowth had been blasted off again by some kid and his pikachu, in which they've been chasing around for nearly 2 years and were now walking through the woods in the dark, searching for some kind of shelter where they could stay the night.

"Hey Jess, it's getting really late, do you think we should just set up camp here?" James asked.

Jessie jumped, as she was quickly jolted out of her train-of-thought by his question. She looked around to see that they had ended up in a small clearing. "Uh, yeah, sure."

With that, the three began to set up. It was James' and Meowth's job to start the fire, and Jessie's job to find something to eat, so she headed out to find some berries. As she searched, she found it hard to focus on the task at hand, her wandering mind making it difficult to find any berries, especially in the dark. She ended up turning back to their makeshift campsite sooner than she probably should've and she hadn't collected as much berries as she would've liked to, but she just wanted to get to bed.

"I couldn't find much, you two can split it." She placed the mostly empty basket in front of her partners, who were now sitting on a log near the fire.

They both internally cringed at how little she'd collected, but Jessie needed some nonetheless. "Nonsense Jessie, we can split it 3 ways." James insisted, Meowth nodded his head in agreement.

"No, I just need some shut-eye." She said. She thought for a moment about what she _would_ say if she was in a better state-of-mind, in an attempt to not make her team suspicious. "Besides, you two need it more than I do. You two are the ones who goofed up our plan, after all." She took her sleeping bag out of her bag and set it out, before climbing inside and getting comfortable.

James crouched down in front of her. "Jess, is everything alright? You've been awfully quiet today, and now you're going to bed without eating?"

This was the last thing she wanted to happen. "Ugh! Can't a girl get some beauty sleep?!" She raised her voice.

"Okay then..." He made his way back to the log with meowth and they talked quietly.

Jessie tried her very best to get to sleep, but once again her thoughts began to get in the way. She found herself comparing her own life to her mother's. She was an elite agent, only sent out on the toughest missions. She was practically born great at what she did, and was always striving to improve, although she was already perfect. Then she thought about her own life, at the bottom of the pyramid, only living off of whatever they could find or shoplift, getting little to no funding from the organization, being called failures on the daily. But it was true, they were failures. Hell, they couldn't even snatch a pikachu from a 10 year old, how could they ever expect to do anything important with their lives. She broke her train of thought to look over at James, some time must've passed, as he was now sound asleep across the campsite. With that, she allowed the floodgates to open, and oh boy did they ever. She cried harder than she had in years.

**James' POV **

_Huh?_ He was awakened by something he was certainly not accustomed to hearing- crying. Oh no! Jessie! The complete and utter pain in her cry completely crushed him and it took everything within him to not tear up himself. He didn't know how-or even _if_ he could help, but he knew that he needed to be at her side. He quickly jumped out of his sleeping bag and brought it with him to set right beside her. She seemed to have heard him, as her crying quieted down to pained sobs.

"Go away!" She said, quietly but sharply in between sobs, her head was still buried in her sleeping bag.

James sat down beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He was going to be there for her, weather she liked it or not.

"Go! Away!" She sat up and pushed his hand away, still refusing to look at him. She said something along the lines of "I don't want you to see me like this." But was interrupted by her own hyperventilating.

"it's okay, just let it out." With that, she began to cry again, not nearly as hard as before though. James put his arm around her, and used his other hand to hold hers, gently caressing it with his thumb.

"James, w-we're failures." She finally looked up to meet his gaze, the pain shown in her eyes broke James in a way he couldn't quite understand.

"Jessie, you and I both know that's not true!" He raised his voice slightly. He was almost mad, not at Jessie, but mad at the world for making her feel this way.

"No!" She basically yelled, then she softened. "My mother... s-she was so successful... She always told me that I-I could do great things..." She looked away to wipe her tears before continuing. "I-I let her down."

James' expression softened, it wasn't very often that Jessie talked about her mother, so he was left momentarily stunned. It became quite obvious to him that she really missed her. He cleared his throat. "I'm sure your mother was an amazing woman, but I'll bet she has been in our position before. Our job is tough, but I'm sure that it'll all pay off."

"But what if it doesn't?! We've been chasing around the same Pikachu for years! You really think we're going anywhere?!" She began crying again. "I-I just don't... think I'm cut out for t-this. James, you have so much wasted potential... I-I feel like I'm holding you back."

He was trying with all his might not to start crying himself, tears now blurring his eyesight. But he knew he had to stay strong, for her. "Jessica, you've got to listen to me!" He was now facing her, his hands on both her shoulders. He slid his hands down her arms to hold her hands. As their eyes met, James found it difficult to put his thoughts into words. "Jessie, you are the strongest person I know. You've had many obstacles in the past, but you never gave up. That's what's gotten you to where you are now. You have a lot of grit, and so help me if you give up now..." His expression softened. "I honestly don't know what I would do with myself. Y-Y-Your mother, she was right when she said you could do great things, and you already have. Just think about how far you've come! You've really exeled in Pokémon competitions and showcases, you're a strong, beautiful young woman who isn't afraid of the spotlight. You've improved so much within your performances, and you continue to improve each and every day. Within Team Rocket, you've helped Meowth and I grow so much as villains, and as people -Meowth's a pokémon, but still- and it might not seem like it, but our skill has improved tremendously, even though we haven't captured Pikachu yet, we get closer and closer every day, and it's all thanks to your brilliant ideas." He was so caught up in his own speech, he didn't notice the small smile on Jessie's face.

Jessie was not quite sure how to respond, she had never seen James speak so passionately before and she was immensely grateful that he was around. Tears still streaming down her face, she pulled him in to a warm embrace. He hugged her back warmly, running his fingers through her hair. He was there for her, and that felt nice.

"Say, Jess," He started.

"Hm?"

"How about we go to mew mountain tomorrow, so you can visit her?"

She hugged him tighter before responding. "Yeah, I-I'd like that." Her voice was still shaky.

They both reluctantly broke apart and climbed into their respective sleeping bags. They seemed to have read eachothers' mind, as they both reached to hold the others' hand. They both looked up at the stars above them, admiring the beautifully clear sky.

James finally broke the perfect silence. "Jess," He started, trusting she acknowledged him, despite her lack of response. "Just know that I'll always be here for you, and you can always talk to me when your feeling down."

Jessie took a moment to respond. "Thank you so much James, that's exactly what I needed." She gave his hand a small squeeze before she fully relaxed. She had felt so vulnerable, but yet so secure. She hadn't had anyone care that much about her since... well, you know... and it felt so unexplainably nice to have someone to talk to for a change.

Maybe it wasn't so bad to show emotion every once in a while.

**Okayyyyy so we'll, that was... interesting... and OOC, I'm aware. But I really enjoyed writing this! Like, I love reading these kinds of things where one of them is scared or upset and the other helps them, those kinds of stories pull at my heartstrings, and I hope that someday I can up my skill to pull at others' heartstrings... as strange as that sounds. Anywho, I hope you liked reading this as much as I loved writing it! Be sure to pop me a review!!!**

**Luv ya!**

**Buh-bye!**


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